


Slumber Party

by VeraBAdler



Series: October 2018 challenges [7]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - Middle School, Food, Gen, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-07
Updated: 2018-10-07
Packaged: 2019-07-27 16:05:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,144
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16222547
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VeraBAdler/pseuds/VeraBAdler
Summary: Cas Novak realizes the depth of his friendship with Dean Winchester.Fictober prompt: “No worries, we still have time.”Promptober prompt: Harry Potter





	Slumber Party

It's late.

It's so late.

They are gonna be in so much trouble when Cas's mom wakes up.

They'd both been under strict orders: Don't eat too much junk food. Don't drink all the soda. Don't stay up past midnight. Don't make a mess.

Cas surveys the wreckage of the living room and sighs. They went zero for four. _Lovely_.

It had started out great. Cas's mom had finally said he could have a friend sleep over. “One friend, Castiel. _One_ ,” she'd said, shaking a finger at him and glaring as if, unchecked, he might invite a small army.

She needn't have worried. The fact that Cas had even one friend interested in a visit felt like a minor miracle. He'd been the shy, awkward loner at school his whole life, always picked last for lab partners and gym class, and he'd grown to accept his solitary place in the universe. Dean Winchester had changed all that.

Dean was a new student at the school this year; his family had moved into town over the summer. Cas hadn't given him much notice at first, as he'd long since given up trying to make friends with the new kids. Sometimes they'd respond positively to his overtures, giving him a little hope, only to dash that hope once they realized what a loser he was and ditched him for more popular friends.

When Dean had plopped himself down in the seat next to him in homeroom, Cas had smiled pleasantly in his direction and then turned back to his book, unwilling put any further effort into a friendship that would never happen. He was sure that Dean, with his charming grin and all-American good looks, would be in with the in crowd before the day was over, and Cas would be as invisible to him as he was to everyone else.

But Dean had surprised him. He'd struck up a conversation about Cas's book, and as they'd chatted through all of homeroom they'd discovered a host of shared interests. By lunchtime they were buddies. By the end of the week, they were inseparable.

Cas didn't have a lot of experience in this realm, obviously, but it seemed to him that his friendship with Dean was unusual, at least compared to what he saw among his classmates. He and Dean didn't quarrel, at least not in the “I'll never talk to you again!!!” way the others did. They didn't get sick of each other, or play the competitive popularity games he saw swirling around him. They just clicked, like two puzzle pieces meant to fit. When he thought about doing something, he thought about doing it with Dean. Like having a sleepover.

His mom had been taken aback when he'd asked. Naomi Novak was a stern woman, and she kept a tidy house. It had doubtless never bothered her that her son didn't bring any little friends home to visit. She'd probably never looked past her satisfaction at not having to clean up after a boisterous play date to wonder if her son was happy never having had one.

Hence the litany of rules, every one of which he and Dean had managed to break over the last six hours. His parents had retired to their room at 10:00 on the dot, as they did every night. Cas and Dean had set themselves up in the den, two floors down, where they could be as loud as they wanted without disturbing the sleeping adults.

Before she'd gone to bed, Naomi had laid out some board games, ordered in a couple pizzas, and gestured to the selection of 2-liter bottles of soda in the mini fridge. “I wasn't sure what you like to drink, Dean, so I bought a variety of flavors. Obviously the two of you won't drink all of this, but help yourself to a few glasses while you eat.”

Then they'd been left alone, and Dean had pulled the first two Harry Potter movies out of his backpack (“Can't _believe_ you haven't seen these yet, dude!”), along with two massive bags of barbecue chips and a value pack of black licorice. 

And now it's just past 4 in the morning. Movies: watched. Pizzas: scarfed. Sodas: drained. Candy: consumed. Chips: One bag eaten, one bag spilled and then ground into the carpet after a wrestling match broke out over the last slice of pepperoni. In the process of that match (which Cas had won, thank you very much), they'd knocked over a lamp, and now the lamp won't turn on no matter how hard he flicks the switch. No room in Naomi Novak's tidy home has ever looked less tidy. Cas can't tell if his stomach ache is due to the soda, the licorice, or the dawning knowledge that he is a doomed man.

He's thirteen – much too old to start _crying_ because he's afraid his _mommy_ is gonna _yell_ at him. But he can feel the sting of tears starting behind his eyes, and a tightness in his chest that he thinks might be panic. Dean can read the terror on his face, and he claps his hand to his friend's shoulder. “Cas, buddy, no worries. We still have time. When do your parents get up?”

“6:00.”

“Jesus, that's early. Even on weekends?”

Cas nods glumly.

“Okay, that's okay. We've still got...” He glances at the clock. “An hour and a half. We can clean this up. You go get the vacuum cleaner and I'll gather up the pizza boxes and stuff.”

“What about the lamp? And all of the soda?”

“Does your dad have a screwdriver?”

“Yes, there's a toolbox in the garage.”

“I can fix the lamp. I'm real good with electrical stuff. Bring me the screwdriver, and a new bulb if you can find one. And the soda... Do you have any change?”

“I have a bank in my room.”

“Go get it. After we deal with all this other stuff, we'll sneak out and hit the machine in front of the hardware store. We can pour the cans back into the big bottles. Then I can take the cans home in my backpack and your mom will never know.”

It's an audacious plan, one that involves a level of disobedience he's never before considered. Sneaking out of the house? Walking the streets, unsupervised, before dawn? Is such a thing safe? Is it even _legal_? He should be horrified at the thought, but he's surprised to notice that he's not. He's not even worried any more. Dean has said it will be okay, and Cas can feel in his bones that Dean wouldn't lie to him.

As a feeling of calm purpose settles over him, he bustles off to find the vacuum and the tools. He's starting to realize that, should his friend ask, he would follow Dean into Hell.

**Author's Note:**

> No actual destiel content in this one, although I personally believe that these two end up happily married down the road. :)
> 
> Rebloggable link for this fic on tumblr is [here](https://blessyourhondahurley.tumblr.com/post/178822465776/october-7-slumber-party-verabadler).


End file.
